LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen voted 3-2 Tuesday to solicit bids on the cost of building an office and small conference room at the Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Selectmen Heather Bronish, Nixon Ortiz and Chairman Jeffrey Bryant voted in favor while Rod Heikkinen and Ernie Souther opposed.

Jay selectpersons voted Sept. 28 to put the addition out to bid in November, Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said Tuesday. The board understood that the work would be dependent on the bid prices and on Livermore Falls officials approving the expense. If both boards approve the project after bids come in, the money would come out of the joint reserve account for the plant.

The reserve account has about $225,000, interim Livermore Falls Town Manager Amanda Allen said.

Livermore Falls owns the treatment plant. The operation and maintenance of the plant is paid for based on the amount of sewage from each town. The formula this year has Jay paying 58.2% and Livermore Falls, 41.8%.

The addition would be separate from the proposed upgrade of the plant in which Jay and Livermore Falls would each pay 50%.

The conference room could be used for training, meeting, planning and to store files.

Constructing it before the upgrade is an effort to save the town money, Allen said.

“If the board is truly interested in saving money why are they adding an office and conference room space?” resident Warren Smith asked. He also works for the Sewer Department and at the plant.

“We’re doing just fine with what we have,” he said.

There is space at the Town Office and in Jay to meet, he said.  The plant also has a break room that would fit several people, he said. There are only three employees that use it, he said.

Souther said when he was on the board in 2007, the primary concern was fixing the sewer lines. He thought the money should go for that.

He was told the town’s sewer lines are separate from the plant.

In another treatment plant matter, the board voted to spend up to $8,000 from the joint reserve, if needed at the end of the year, to fix a flow distribution structure controller at the plant.

“We have funds right now to pay for it but if we need any help, we are asking to take up to $8,000 from the reserve,” Allen said.

The money would come out of each town’s operation and maintenance budget for the plant, based on the amoutn of sewage treated at the plant.